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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Teacher gift.

I really don't mean to beat a dead horse (where did that saying come from?) with this money teacher book, but I did it for my 4th year in a row and again I walked away saying, "worth every minute"This is now my third post on the subject, (more detailed instructions here) but I learned some new things this year and wanted to show off a couple of other bloggers who also tried it out. Cara & Andrea . If you have done it let me know, I would love to hear the results. Cara's friend also tried it and just had to share this email I received.

I just got back from taking my daughters teacher the book. She started to open it and once she realized what it was she broke down into tears. She could not believe it and she just kept saying over and over "this is incredible". She started going through it and would read one and start laughing and then cry a little more. She is 52 years old and said, "I have never seen anything like this before".

This year the class donated about $150, so we had to change it to "150 things we love about you..."

I did find this awesome stack of quotes that to me made it that much more special. You can find these at any craft or scrapbook store and they come in different themes. This one is on education and has awesome quotes on vellum paper. The same width as a dollar bill (OK a little smaller in length)It was so easy to stick in between the dollars and quotes from the kids.

Also, Cara, did remind me that to get brand new money from a bank you may have to order it and could take 2 to 3 days. I forgot to put that in my original instructions. This year luckily they had enough there, but that has never happened before.

here is a photo with the vellum paper.

This year I printed the title on vellum and then had it over a cool floral paper that I had adhered to chip board.

and of course the polka dot ribbon finishes it off!

my favorite answer:What I will miss most about Mrs. LeeThat I wont' hear her voice any more.

Mrs. Lee has the softest, sweetest voice you have ever heard and a few of the kids wrote about it.Then at the last minute before I cut my printed pages, you should be able to get three to a page of the kids quotes, I ran to the copy center and copied them and bound them in a book for the Principal. I wrote him a note from the parents in our class telling him how wonderful we thought our teacher was and thought he might like to hear what the students had to say about her.I then put it in a plastic popcorn bucket ($1 store) with some candy, popcorn and a blockbuster gift certificate. We have a great principal!

these are the forms that had been returned to me. I suggest a few things when sending the forms and trying to get them back.

copy them off on obnoxious green, yellow or orange paper, so that they will remember what it is when they see it lying around their house and remember to send it back to you

the envelope that i sent it had two things printed on the front each with a check box. to : Mrs. Lee's best second grader with a small box to: Kristi (Annie Kate's mom) then they had an envelope to send the answers back in and could just circle my name so that it would find it's way back to me

don't give the parents more than a week to get filled out and send back.

also send a email that they can respond to. (not everyone in our class has email, so this didn't work that well this year. )

Here is what I had typed on the formYou can copy and paste this for next year

For Mrs. Lee's end of the year gift, I will be compiling a handmade book. The size of the book is the same size as a dollar bill. every other page will be a dollar bill and the other pages will be the questions and and answers with your child's name on them. She will be able to easily remove the money and then be left with a treasure of thoughts from her 2007 2nd grade class.Please fill out this form with your child and return in the original envelope and mark to Your Name here along with any donation,(cash or check) by THIS FRIDAY, June 1st)Write whatever they say even if it does not make sense,don't worry about correcting the way they say it.If everyone donated at least $5.00 we would have $100.If you can not donate, please fill out the questions anyway.the cover of the book will read100 reasons why we love Mrs. Lee

I then just had to share some of my favorite answers this year :

What I will miss most about Mrs. Leeher nicenessshe makes us do our bestis her smileher compliments to meI won't hear her voice any more

Mrs. Lee loves me becauseI try my best to respect everyoneI am neat, I listen and I do what she saysI am one of her studentsI am self controlledI am creativeI am a good student, sometimes

I love Mrs. Lee becauseShe changes our desks every monthshe is honest

This Year Mrs. Lee taught mehow to multiply, divide and how to be a great owner of a butterflymy map skillswhen a butterfly comes out of it's crystalis it shakes

What I will never forget about Mrs. Leeshe is from Korea like meshe cared for meher wedding pictures (she got married this year)

Mrs. Lee livesnear the hospital (this year she was really sick)in Georgetownwith her husbandin a place you couldn't have wished for, like a palace

Mrs Lee's favorite thing to eat for lunchover half the class said Blueberries

that flat basket i got at a local flower store. i put every current foliage in there. it was only $15.00, laura , i would be happy to do a little research for you.it was the flower store called kabloom, i know it is a national chain

the great thing about the basket is that it fits between the door and the storm door if you want to be protected or in the winter i hang it in my house on a door in my kitchen and it doesn't stick out and hit you when you walk by.

I can't get enough posts on this project, for real. I finally tracked down some padding compound on Wednesday, a little late for me to get the project done, but I am doing this FOR SURE next year. You are generous with your ideas and it is so nice you don't mind a copy cat. I'm nearly done my first personalized Guess Who game. I went about it in a slightly different way. Maybe I'll post what I did . . .

Kristi, I thought this was an amazing gift the first time you showed it and am no less "wowed" by it this time. What an incredible gift. And the good thing about giving it to the principal is he/she can put it in her professional file and continue to give to the teacher in the years to come as other employers see the favorable reviews. What a great gift.

Kristi, this is the greatest idea and such a treasure for the teacher to keep. Having a best friend as a teacher, I know that something like this (even without the $) would be so much more appreciated than all the little 'teacher' trinkets they seem to get. Thanks for the inspiration!

I did your idea this year, but was not able to do the money so instead I decided that I would buy the teacher what the kids said was her favorite snack. We did it for our Kindergarten and 1st grade teacher since they both were my kids teachers. They teach year around school so they are very close. Well this year our principal and a lot of the teachers are leaving to start a new school, and these two were. I took their favorite color the kids said and made the cover than I added a few more questions. I went in the last week of school, and had the teacher sit up front. Than I gave each of the kids a snack to give the teacher. Mrs. A (1st grad) loves pepsi and chocolate, so I bought a big box of pepsi, some chocolate. The kids gave them to her one at a time. Than Mrs. I I did the same thing, she started to cry. I than read to the teachers the question, "If I could give Mrs.... anything in the world I would give her..." and they bawled the whole time. Mrs. I has adopted two children, and two of the kids said they would give her a child...oh my goodness.... and she just found out she is adopting again.

So thank you so much for the idea. Both of them could not stop crying and saying that as a teacher it was the best gift they could have ever been given. I made them each a wood letter of their last name and decorated it in the favorite color the kids said.

I will probably do this every year, it was so much fun, time consuming, but what a joy to see their reactions. Well worth it.

This is your third time explaining but my first time realizing how cool this really is. After receiving a very heartfelt thank you from our teacher and a DVD she put together I wish we had done this. I would love to do this from now on.

katie, thanks for sharing.i love your idea and think the presentation idea just hits the mark! especially in the older grades, i just may switch it up this year!thanks for taking the time to comment about it.

Such a great idea. When I read it on your 'traditions' link I thought, "Cool idea, but I'm not spending $100 on a thank-you gift" Now I get it is from the whole class! Much better. I think it is very cool.

I love this, Kristi, and love the detailed instructions. Am I just retarded that I still don't get how it is all bound together?? I really would like to do this next year! oh, and giving a copy to the principal is sheer genius.

My youngest has our favorite kindergarten teacher and I wanted to do something extra special for her at the end of the year. This gift is just perfect! Do you have a copy of that wonderful green letter you send out that you could email me?

I too am curious, how did you bind?what a great idea! i did a gift card tree, and that was cute, cut branches from a real tree, and each student wrote their name, and drew a picture for the teacher, and the ones that wanted to give her something additional i taped the giftcards to the back.

I think this idea is super sweet! As a teacher, the thought and time that went into it would mean so much to me! Not to mention the sweet words of my students. One thing to note though-in our school district teachers are not allowed to accept gifts with monetary value. Before including the money, you may want to check out your system's policies regarding this. It is an awesome gift, even without the money though!

I really like this idea, but I am adapting it a bit. My son is graduating High school this year and I am planning on doing this idea with all our relatives and friends of my sons. I am going to ask them to write about a favorite memory or words of wisdom or encouragement for his future as an adult. Then put a dollar in between for him to use toward college or apt, etc.

I love this idea, but I'm not sure how I would get the letters to the kids. Do you just send envelopes for the teacher to hand out to the children? I don't have last names or addresses - or even a listing of all of the children - for my kids' kindergarten classes.

wow, any teacher would love this.... you could also have kids bring a gift card of their (parent's) choice and place the gift cards in between pieces of cardstock... and make this a gift for a graduate...The Possibilities are endless and you are wonderful to think of this idea! Thank you!

wow, any teacher would love this.... you could also have kids bring a gift card of their (parent's) choice and place the gift cards in between pieces of cardstock... and make this a gift for a graduate...The Possibilities are endless and you are wonderful to think of this idea! Thank you!

Hi, just wanted to settle your mind - the phrase" to flog (or beat) a dead horse" means to expend a lot of effort on a totally pointless task (you can beat that horse all day, but it still won't move). I just wanted to clear this up because that certainly is NOT what you're doing - you're doing wonderful things and you should keep doing them as long as it makes you happy :-)

I love this idea! I am creating a website for acts of kindness and I'm creating an entry for your idea at kindea.org - that links back to this site. I hope that's OK - I'm new to creating websites! Thank you!

Hi! I was looking on line for a creative heart felt gift for my kids teachers and came across your site. This is such a sweet idea and something that will be treasured always by the teacher. I was wondering if you can send me a copy of the letter you sent out for question ideas and the best way to bind this? Thank you so much for sharing...you made my day! :)

I'm currently in the middle of this project. We didn't have any padding compound local so I actually made it myself! I did a test run last night and it was a success!!! Now I'm trying to figure out how to print the paper out in the size of dollar bills. I'd like to do a border so when I cut I know its the exact size when I cut. How did you do the size?

Thank you so much for sharing this amazing idea! We did it for my daughters teacher this year, and loved everything about it. http://lifeofamodernmom.blogspot.com/2013/06/our-favorite-teacher-gift.html

This is such an awesome idea! I have read the instructions numerous times and I think I got it. I am going to try to make one for my sons kindergarten teacher. Im wondering though, if you put glue at the top of each piece of paper would the $1 bills not get glued or stuck? And if they are not to be glued, how do they stay in and not fall out? Thanks!

Thank you for posting this! A question I have is how were you able to contact all the parents and get their e-mail addresses? My friend is a teacher and I'd love to do this for her but I don't work at the school... Thank you!

I found your idea through the Spoiled But Not Rotten page. We made one of our own and the teachers loved it! Thanks for the inspiration! (Find ours here: http://www.who-arted.com/2015/02/15/end-of-the-year-teacher-gift/)

I know you posted this sooo many years ago, but I love this idea and would like to do it for my kids teachers this year. By any chance, do you remember where you purchased the Quote Stacks? I am having a really hard time finding those in my area.

I love this idea and I am so thankful you posted it! I am making this right now for my daughter's 2nd grade teacher. I was wondering what you recommend when organizing the book... would you organize it by questions, by students, or have a random mix? Thank you. I appreciate your time! :)

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